


Finding "         "

by Onxy_Black



Series: Colours on a pallet [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: F/F, Foreshadowing, Gen, Other events, Romance, Slow Burn, Wait for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-10-29 20:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20802329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onxy_Black/pseuds/Onxy_Black
Summary: After the events wherein the world nearly ENDED, Pearl and Marina are now settling down, however they can, back to their normal lives.Of course, life wasn't going to allow that. As the saying goes: 'Life finds a way...'





	1. Thoughts of "    "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcome to my second short story after the events of both Dark before the Dawn and Fragments. This story is part of a series, but there no need to read part one for continuity, its just there (the series) for organizational purposes.
> 
> Right. I don't have much to say other than... enjoy, I guess?
> 
> \---
> 
> Italics represent thought.  
\--- represent change in location, POV, or time passing.

The organ sounded through hall. The choir sang along, humming and singing the melody.

It was a smoothing, yet heart wrenching song, pulling at the heart strings, evoking past memories.

_Way to old school,_ at least according to Pearl. _Not that she would let anysquid know that, she understood the importance of this whole event, this ceremony._

_It was Remembrance Day, the day the Great Turf War ended._ The day was dedicated to remembering those who fell in the War, and to remind everyone the consequences of war.

She didn't care much about the whole thing, but attended nonetheless out of respect.

She was with her father, a rare occasion. Her mother had passed when she was a child, so she was raised by her father. _Then again, 'raised' wasn't quite a proper way of describing her upbringing._

Her father was always working, putting his best and all for the business. The loss of his beloved had broken something within him, and her father had disappeared for a bit after the death of Pearl's mother.

It had been weird, not to have any parental figures around to care for her at an age of 8, but she managed. Money wasn't an issue, they had tons of it, they always had tons of it.

Then suddenly, her father came back, and took over the business once more, as if nothing happened. Since her father's return, he had started to spend time with her, at least once a month, to sit down and have a tea break. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. She knew it was tough of him, so she appreciated the thought silently.

And so, having such an extended amount of time with her father was certainly rare.

Both Houzukis were dressed similarly, dark formal suits and matching pants.

Around them, Pearl spotted a few familiar faces. Those that she didn't know the names of, but saw every year at the ceremony. Those that had lost someone to the War.

_Personally, she didn't lose anyone to the War, her father, on the other hand..._

_His father (her grandfather) had been a soldier during the War, and the fact that they were here now... Well, it pretty much spelt out the situation. _

The organ faded into silence, and was replaced with a sharp trumpet sound.

Her father rose, as with several others, and they started heading for the front of the hall.

Pearl watched from her seat. It was the time for respects to be paid to those passed. She watched as several other middle aged to straight up elderly squids make their way to the front.

_Eh?_

_There was a relatively young squid, and she hadn't seen them here before._

She leaned forward to get a better look, they were dressed in similar fashion to the crowd, a dark suit and pants, with two exceptions; a sparkling deep red ruby was set above their right breast pocket, and they wore dark shades over their eyes.

She continued watching the squid, _after all, they were the only really interesting thing to watch._ It wasn't long before she found their role here: an escort.

The ruby squid _(her nickname for them) _was an escort to some elderly squid. Said elderly squid was visibly one of the oldest gathered, and could be seen shaking, even from the distance she was at.

He was dressed in an old and faded uniform, with multitude of badges gleaming and sparkling in their places. _Whoever he was, this old timer was certainly some big name..._

_Wait._

_Cod._

_How could she be so stupid?_

She was seen him before, she knew who he was.

_Oh Cod, she wasn't THAT old, she shouldn't be forgetting stuff like that._

_Captain Cuttlefish. That was who the elderly squid was, she had just met him, what, a couple of weeks ago? Maybe it was the difference in dress coat that threw her off. Yeah, that's that. Definitely that._

_Ah._ She knew then, or rather could hazard a guess at who the escort was now. It was a distance away, and their features were masked, but there were only a handful of squids that would meet the conditions.

_They had to be an agent, after all, they were escorting Captain Cuttlefish. Next, she couldn't quite tell their gender—they looked very gender ambiguous, but there was only one squid that fitted the general body shape of the 'Ruby squid'._

_Zero. It had to be agent 0 of the NSS. _Pearl grinned, yet another mystery solved. _Add another feather to the great rapper Pearl aka MC Princess aka Detective Pink! Yeap! Detective Pink was totally going to be a thing from now on._

"..."

_There was no point, now, was there? Nope, she didn't gain anything much from the whole thing. Well, at least she killed some time. If she remembered correctly... The entire ceremony normally ended at 3pm._

Pearl checked the time.

'10.48am'

_Cod. What a long way to go._

_Agrhhhh.... _

Pearl mentally bemoaned her situation, keeping her exterior perfectly the same.

_Oh?_ While taking out her phone to check the time, she had caught a notification as well.

'One new message'

_Wellll.... She technically wasn't supposed to use her phone during the ceremony, but.... No one would notice, right? _

Swiping at her screen, she opened the messaging app, and logged into the chatroom.

'One new message'

DJ_Hyperfresh > Hey Pearlie! I was wondering if you would be free to catch dinner today, my treat. After all, I still owe you lunch, right? (I know it's different, but that's ok right?) (>.<)

MC_Princess > Hey Reena. Sure, I should be able to make it. Just text me the where and when and your favourite detective shall make her appearance!!!

Pearl rapidly tapped away at her phone, composing her reply, before sending.

Taking a moment to look around, she found everyone to be watching the front where the people, her father and Captain Cuttlefish included, were now gathered.

No one noticed her yet.

A soft beep caught her attention.

A reply from Marina, _that was fast._

DJ_Hyperfresh > Wonderful! I made reservations for the Sleek Swan, 6.30pm, is that ok with you?

DJ_Hyperfresh > Also, what with the detective gig? ¿? (>×<) ¿?

MC_Princess >...

MC_Princess > Long and totally unrelated story.

MC_Princess > ill explain over dinner, if you are interested.

MC_Princess > BTW LOCATION and time are all good.

MC_Princess > srry caps.

Pearl locked her phone before getting a reply_. It wasn't good to keep distracting herself. _

She looked onto the ceremony. The gathered people at the front were still there, and no one had noticed her little escapade. _At least, no one voiced anything. _

She found herself watching her father, and wondering.

Wondering about octarians, octolings, and Marina.

_Marina. Marina was an octoling, what would her father feel if he knew that? He had lost his own father to the War, the Great Turf War between the inkings and octarians. _

Her father knew she did a band with another, but like the majority of Inkopolis, didn't recognize Marina as an octoling.

Pearl found her mouth set in a grim line. _What if her father didn't approve of Marina, about them? _

Pearl bit her beak lightly. _Them? Was there a them? There was Off the Hook, of course, but was there anything beyond that? _

_No. _

Pearl knew that.

_There was nothing. _

And some part of her wanted there to be something.

_Marina... Reena. Her music partner, her friend, and... What? What more? _

Pearl sighed. _Feelings, emotions, she was so not good with dealing with these types of things. But one thing was fairly obvious, and it was that she saw Marina as someone more than a close friend._

_Something more. But what... She didn't quite know yet. _

_Right, time to think about something else._ _Tonight, she would meet with Marina, she could deal with all this weird feelings later. Talking about tonight... the dinner venue. _

_The Sleek Swan. It was one of the pricier restaurants, meant for those with a sleek wallets. Cause no amount of cash fitted into a wallet could pay for a meal there. _

_She didn't want to look down on Marina and her ability to pay, but... well... Marina had significantly less money than her. _

_Still, Marina had made her decision, so she would respect that. It would be rude otherwise. _

_Well, dinner it was then, something to look forwards too, at least. _

The people at the front was dispersing back, now.

Pearl pecked at her phone once more.

'10.56am'

_Oh. Oh, this was going to be a long wait, now, wasn't it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, lets make something crystal clear, yeah? I know I put the Marina/Pearl tag here, BUT! it doesn't mean there going to be snogging or anything like that. No, this work is just build up, BUILD UP, to further the worldbuilding and overall story. But i felt it kinda deserved its own short story status in itself. so Yea.
> 
> Erm, just take it as a friendship tag, ok? yeaaaa. I really wanted to do a Marina and Pearl story, i mean, those two are just sooooo cute.
> 
> That being said, I plan to explore the relationship between Pearl and Marina, to the next level, but at the same time, I'm introducing other elements into the story.
> 
> Ara ara, its all complicated, do bear with me.
> 
> Nonetheless, feedback is appreciated and loved, I would reply to every comment when I can.
> 
> Don't get cooked,  
Stay Off the Hook!


	2. Feelings of  "    "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought  
\--- represent change in POV, location, or time passing

"Hello! I would like to make a reservation for tonight? Oh... Oh? … Yes... Yes, I understand. Hmm... Oh? I see, yes please.... 6.30pm please.... Yes... Yes, thank you. Goodbye!"

Marina hung up, setting her house phone down.

She took a sit, running a hand through her tentacles. She was making a reservation for dinner with Pearl at the Sleek Swan, except they had no regular seats left. The only option was to rent one of their special private booths, which was still available for reservation. Except that a single booth costed a good 5000 gold already.

Marina twiddled with the ends of her tentacles as she thought on the situation. _She didn't want to cheat Pearl of this meal any longer, sure, Pearl wouldn't take it personally if she didn't treat her, but Marina wanted this to be something more. _

_Perhaps then, in a sense, having the private booth was a boon for her. While a single meal could hardly cover for all Pearl had done for her, it was a small way of repayment and appreciation to Pearl from her. _

_That had been why she chosen the Sleek Swan for their dining, it was one of the more prominent and upper class restaurants. She didn't want any less for Pearl, after all. As for the price... She'll manage. _

Marina wasn't by any means poor, or even moderate in terms of finance. She was straight up rich. The concert sales of Off the Hook already racked in millions at a time, not to mention their role as daily news casters which supplied a rather decent steady salary.

So the entire dinner cost would be quite affordable for her.

It was just the principle, the principle of saving and not spending beyond her means. Then again, the rule kind off only applied to herself, she always found herself more than willing to spend on others. Primarily the two greatest people in her life; her partner and best friend Pearl, and recently, her 'little sister' Eight. _(Eight was at least biologically the same age, or even older than her, she knew that, but shush)_

_That's that then. It was settled, now she had to inform Pearl of the event._ Marina blinked. _She never asked Pearl if she was free in the first place. Carp. That wasn't like her._

Whipping out her octophone, she almost dialled Pearl, before changing to a message instead.

_That's right, today was some special day to the inklings, and Pearl was attending some sort of ceremony, it wouldn't be nice to interrupt it with a phone call. _

Finishing up her message, Marina sent it.

* * *

The time read '6.05pm'.

Marina stood in front of the Sleek Swan, and fiddled with her dress for the umptieth time.

"Relax girl, you look fabulous," Callie chipped up from besides her, "How could you not, when you have the Squid Sisters backing you up? I assure you, fashion is our middle name."

Besides her, Marie stood, and gave a slight nod of assent, before smiling in encouragement.

"Really now... I had thought it was some world ending threat again when you hacked into our agents only communication sever..." Marie said, rolling her eyes, before continuing with a little laugh, "Heh. Gave Zero a good fright all right."

"I'm... I'm sorry... I didn't know who to ask for these types of things... Pearl... I want to make this good for her," Marina looked away guiltily.

As mentioned, she had hacked into the communication sever for the agents, and asked for advice on her dressing. Looking back, she could not believe she did something like that, that was nearly abuse of power. _Nah, it probably WAS abuse of power._

"Don't worry! You came to the right squids! Pearl's going to be blown away! Next thing on the news, Pearl and Marina have begun dating! WOOO!" Callie chattered happily as she stuck various poses.

"Wait... What?" Marina frowned in confusion. _Her and Pearl? Dating? What?_

"..."

"What? You... wasn't this supposed to be a date with Pearl?" Marie slowly asked after a moment of silence.

"..." Dead silence followed between the three gathered. Marina had her beak open and closing, Callie was looking away, and Marie had an extremely shocked and bewildered look on her face.

"Carp. Cod. We messed up, didn't we...?" Marie silently whispered.

Marina nodded slowly.

"Ahhh. Erm. Well, oops?" Marie began, eyes darting away.

"Ohhhhh. Well at least you got a good dress!" Callie said, in a rather fake voice.

Marina looked on at the duo, as her mind quickly cycled through the information presented before her.

_Dating Pearl. The duo had assumed she was going to date Pearl. Why?_

_Dating Pearl._ Marina paused, and cycled the thought through her mind again; _dating Pearl. She never really given any thought to it... but should she have? _

_Nnnn. Maybe another time, for now, she had to... _

"Reena!"

Marina snapped to attention. Turning, she ignored the panicked Squid Sisters scrambling away and located the source of the voice. _Pearl, of course it was Pearl. _

Marina smiled, seeing Pearl before her just seems so normal. She liked normal.

"Woah there Reena! That's some fancy grab you got on there. It's... Erm... Hot!? I mean! It looks good," Pearl began, but quickly started stammering halfway through.

Marina was dressed in a sparkling array of stones and glitter, sewn on an almost transparent lace gown. The stones were arranged as such that the overall effect was that of a fading white from the top to a pure blue near the base.

With every movement, the diamonds and gems sparkled and reflected light, a glittering ensemble. The precious stones, of course, were also placed more densely in the rather … important positions, to preserve Marina’s dignity.

Finally, a tiara of sliver was set woven into her tentacles, and a mother of pearl necklace hung around her neck.

Marina observed Pearl for a moment, _it seemed she was undergoing the instance where excessive blood rushed to her face again, aka blushing. _

_Pearl was so cute when she did that. _

"Well, shall we?" Marina gestured towards the Sleek Swan, noting that both Callie and Marie had somehow disappeared without any fuss.

Marina stretched out her hand with a smile.

"Certainly! Let's... Erm... Let's go!" Pearl shuttered, before taking the outstretched hand, grasping it tenderly.

Pearl smiled. Marina smiled.

And together they made into the restaurant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Hums happily* I just find it so sweet, the little interactions between Pearl and Marina. That's why they are my favorite duo to write.
> 
> Also, there's a little cameo appearance by the Squid Sisters here, I mean, I needed someone to help with the dress. Though, ahem, I also wanted to have some more fun with other characters as well. My original plan was for Callie and Marie play the role of a terrible wingman, and had made all sorts of chessy stuff into the dinner, but I scarped that idea cause.... I can't write humour. I couldn't come up with a single funny instance, so I decided to let Pearl and Marina have a trouble free dinner instead.
> 
> See? I can be nice like that. Reallll nice, right? RIGHT?
> 
> heh.
> 
> heh. heh.
> 
> But other than that, not much this chapter, I kinda covered Marina's POV abit this chapter, and well.... she doesn't quite share the same perspective as Pearl on there being a 'them' now, huh? Well, I did say it wasn't going to be a straight up romance, more like getting there past friendship stage.
> 
> Well, as always, feedback is appreciated, I would reply to every comment when I can.
> 
> Don't get cooked,  
Stay Off the Hook!


	3. Bonds of "     "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics represent thought.  
\--- represent change in POV, location, or time passing

"Miss Marina, Miss Pearl? This way, please," a waiter addressed them, bowing at the waist.

Hearing their names called, both parties looked up and acknowledged the waiter, beginning to follow him.

The waiter led them past the ground floor tables, and up to the second story, eventually stopping in front of an ornate timbre sliding door.

The waiter pulled, and opened the door to reveal a rather spacious room, furnished with hand crafted wooden table and chairs, evident from the custom swan markings and figures. To the left of the table was a large viewing window, offering a glittering view of the city outside.

Marina was shaken out of her initial shock by Pearl as she brushed by, and took a seat.

Shaking her head, she followed Pearl. _Of course Pearl wouldn't be as overwhelmed as she was by the grandeur, Pearl was literally raised to be as such. _

Once both parties were comfortably seated, the waiter bowed once more, and began, "Good evening, Miss Marina, Miss Pearl, I am Ueita, and would be your waiter for today."

Ueita, as introduced, was dressed much like all the other waiters. A blue vest coat and tie, with a long sleeved white undershirt, black long pants, and buttoned gloves. A half mask was clasped at the side of his face, covering his left eye, the shape resembling a swan taking flight.

Ueita paused for a moment, before gesturing to the table, where a little button sat, "Please do not hesitate to call for myself at any point of your dinning."

"Now, Misses, would you like to order?" Ueita bowed, and flipped out two sets of menus from underneath his vest coat and held it out.

Marina looked at Pearl, who shook her head slightly, jerking her head at her, indicating she should make the orders.

"Very well, how about a bottle of Kokana wain to start us of?" Marina ordered, after briefing through the menu for a bit.

_In truth, she had expected this, and had already memorized the entire menu, and planned on what to order based on what she knew about the tastes of Pearl. _

_Kokana wain was a rather high class wine, unique in the sense that it apparently was a recipe passed down from the age of humanity, decades ago. That and she knew Pearl enjoyed this particular beverage, she had mentioned drinking, and enjoying it a couple of times. _

"Certainly, Miss. I shall take my leave for now, then," Ueita bowed, as he retreated backwards, sliding the door closed along the way.

The door clicked into place, and suddenly Marina felt very, very awkward.

"So, Reena. This certainly is some fancy pulls now, eh?" Pearl commented, apparently over the earlier stammering.

"Oh! Haha yeah, I... I wanted to make this good for you, Pearlie, for everything you've done for me..." Marina smiled nervously. She was now somewhat afraid everything as far was not up to standard for Pearl, given that she hadn't shown a single bit of amazement yet.

"Ah... Ah. I... I see! That's nice..." Pearl shuttered once more, along with a slight blush.

Then silence, as both occupants stared into each other's eyes. Just a moment, but a moment in time immemorial, forever preserved.

_It was a surreal feeling, as both of them just seemed to stay here forever. _

A knock interrupted them, causing them to break off.

"Miss Marina, Miss Pearl, may I present your bottle of Kokana wain," Ueita said as he bowed in greeting once more, after sliding the door open.

Along with the bottle, there were two frosted glasses along with a bucket of ice carried by the waiter.

Placing the glasses down, Ueita expertly popped the wine bottle, and began filling both glasses to half full, finishing by ducking the bottle into the bucket of ice.

"Thank you," Marina nodded in thanks to the waiter, who simply returned with a half bow.

"Is there anything else you would like to order?" Ueita began.

"Ah... Yes, we would like..." Marina began ordering the pre-planned items, with Ueita jolting down the orders dutifully.

Pearl watched on from her side of the table in relative silence.

_That was sooooo unlike her, to be quiet and have another take the lead. Usually she would be the one wearing the pants, and walking the talk. But this time she was letting Marina do everything, after all, it was all according to Marina's plan. _

So Pearl watched silently. _This wasn't too bad, she got to watch Marina, and Cod was she pretty as she lead this evening of theirs. _

_So prepared, so strong. Her perfect other half. _

_Huh?_ Pearl frowned slightly, _what was that? Her... other half...?_

Pearl had thought, thought hard about her feelings with Marina, but had not reached a single conclusion, yet.

But now, in the moment, she saw Marina in front of her for all she is.

_Ah._ Pearl realized it, frown replaced by a smile of relief. _Somehow the pieces clicked into place, she still was lacking quite a bit, but at least, she could come to a decent conclusion. _

_After this, at the end of the dinner, and whatever else Marina had planned, she would... ask Marina. That's right, she would ask Marina. _

"Pearlie? Anything you would like to add on to?" Marina asked from across the table.

Pearl focused onto the moment, apparently Marina was done ordering.

"Nah, I'm good. Trust your judgement on this one, Reena."

"Oh...sure. Ha. Then that's all, Ueita, thank you."

Ueita bowed, before exiting, closing the door along the way once more.

* * *

“Oh woah oh oh, woah oh oh oh…” Marina sang softly as she and Pearl walked down the lane.

They were in the park, for a night stroll after the dinner, and the place was mostly deserted by now.

”Sakiganareku mewanite…. Didariwabachu niragatske… Orahaveora didizatse ….”Pearl joined in singing besides her, lending her own vocals.

“Woah oh oh oh, woah oh oh oh…” Both sang now, vocals mixing and harmonising, before they trailed off and resumed their walk.

“It really means a lot to you, huh?” Pearl broke the relative silence.

“Yea… its… I wrote parts of it to incorporate … moments of my past, so it’s really nostalgic at times…” Marina replied, “I… it reminds me of a special person who helped me in the past… to … get here…” Marina finished, as her mind wandered slightly.

_Her special someone indeed. Pearl was someone who had helped her acclimate to surface life, but before when she was still in the domes, there had been another who had played a similar role as well. Her mentor, her friend._

_She couldn’t remember their name._

_No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember their name. It was the same with everything before her 10th birthday, she couldn’t remember much from that time. Something had happened, and her special someone had disappeared._

It hurt to think about it, so she knew that whatever had happened, had been something rather painful and scarring.

All that was left of the person was this song, snippets of the song, that she managed to remember. So in tribute to whoever that was, she had incorporated elements of the tune into fly octo fly, which was why past its already meaningful lyrics, the song meant so much to her.

“Huh… well that’s deep,” Pearl breathed, interwinding her hands behind her head.

“Oh! Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” Marina began, but was waved off by Pearl.

“Nah. Don’t sweat it, Reena, we all got past issues.”

Pearl took a deep breath._ Indeed, they all had past issues, but what was important wasn’t the past, not so much as the future. The future, the future of her and Marina…_

_It was time, wasn’t it? Time to ask Marina…_

Pearl turned and opened her beak, but was cut off before she could utter a word.

“Pearlie, I… I need to tell … ask you something…” Marina began, head tilted to the dark night sky, hence oblivious to Pearl’s actions.

“Eh? Sure, shoot,” Pearl replied, swallowing those words she meant to ask. _She could wait, no biggie, she could wait._

“Pearl… you said I could tell you anything, right?” Marina looked down, and Pearl met her eyes.

Marina was scared. Her eyes were fearful, looking for something to trust.

Pearl would be that something. _She had to be._

“Anything,” Pearl smiled confidently. _She would be here for Marina this time around. Not like that whole fiasco of the reveal of Marina being an octoling, where Marina was forced into the situation. Now, now Marina was willingly pouring out her heart to her, so she better well be able to take it all._

“I … I trust you, Pearlie…” Marina smiled, as her gaze turned to be more at ease.

“I… from before, like really before….” Marina began slowly, with Pearl nodding along and giving an encouraging smile.

Taking a breath, Marina clamed herself, before starting proper this time.

And she spoke. She spoke to Pearl about who she was before coming to the surface, the things she had done, the inventions and machines of destruction she had constructed. She spoke of her beliefs and ideology—brainwashed as they were, of DJ Octavio and the whole octarian system. She spoke of her freeing by the Calamari Inkantation and her escape to the surface. And finally, she spoke of her loss of memories from before her 10th birthday, and the pieces she longed to have obtained on her life back then.

“Hooo….” Pearl exhaled.

_It was a lot to take in. Some parts, she already knew, or more or less could guess at, but others? Damn, Marina certainly had a life so far, especially the part of her memory loss, whatever had caused it certainly wasn’t pretty._

“Reena. First off, thanks for telling me that, you didn’t have to, but chose to, so thank you,” Pearl said, as she grinned and gave a thumbs up.

“Next, I want you to know that I would never judge or treat you any different because of this. In fact, I would go a step further and say you shouldn’t judge yourself because of what you’ve done. Its over! Look to the future! And if you really want to look to the past, look for the hidden past, the past you have lost. With your skills, I’m certain that you can uncover whatever you want to know. If nothing else, you got Detective Pink on your side!” Pearl ended her speech with a dramatic pose, pointing to herself.

Marina blinked slowly, before a smile spread across her face. Tears welled up in her eyes, and started flowing down her cheeks.

Marina grabbed Pearl in a tight hug, and Pearl returned it.

Marina was glad, _somehow she seemed liberated, by such a simple speech._ _Pearl had somehow cut straight through all her problems and presented her a solution, and such a simple one at that, to her._ _That’s right, she could have always accessed security footages, records on who she was before. Perhaps she knew that, all along, but now with a little push from Pearl, she was able to take a step in that direction now._

Pearl was sad, _somehow she had been blocked in her attempt once more. It seemed fate just wasn’t on her side. She wanted to ask Marina, though now, her mind was a mess with all that Marina had dropped on her. What were the words she wanted to ask, even? They were important, pertaining to her feelings, her emotions. Yet now, it was all gone. _

_Well, at least Marina seemed to be able to reach some sort of breakthrough, that, that should be enough for her, yes. Next time, there would always be a next time._

Pearl sighed softly, _it was fine, it would always be fine, all for Marina._

_Ah, she remembered the words left unsaid now. Those words she wanted to ask Marina about. Those words which would now wait, till the right opportunity once more._

_ <strike>‘Marina? I think… I may have fallen in love with you.’</strike> _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thats it! Wahaha! The conclusion of my second short story.
> 
> Ok, I have braced myself, I am ready, so bring it on! (I'm going to get quite abit of hate because of how I ended it, right?). Actually well, I'm eh. I always intended for the relationship between Marina and Pearl to progress, but progress slowllllly, one step at a time. And even then, Marina and Pearl are going to be at different steps.
> 
> As for Marina's past, I have actually hinted at it abit in my oneshots (its called Aftermarth). I probably would be transferring those oneshots chapter out eventually into individual chapters, but for now, they are going to be there. I think the particular chapter is called nightmares? chapter 2 or 3?
> 
> well
> 
> Next, some simple references.  
'Ueita' is Japanese for 'Waiter'  
'Kokana wain' is Japanese for 'Expensive wine'  
hahaha, yea, thats how I got the names, serious, Google translate.
> 
> And well, finally. Thank you, to all the readers of this little short story, I do hope you enjoyed the work. Feedback is appreciated in any way or form, I would reply to every comment when I can. With that, I bid thee farewell till my next work.
> 
> Don't get cooked,  
Stay Off the Hook!


End file.
